Blue Goose ~ Day 67

August 6, 2014 ~ Adrian, MI to Chardon, OH

I have been blessed with good weather most of this trip so far and today was one more full-on summer day...sunny, not too warm, not too muggy.

I started driving southeast through busy but tolerable interstate traffic near Detroit and through Toledo    arriving at Ottawa NWR in Ohio in early afternoon. For the past two years early in May, DHC and I have gone to The Biggest Week in American Birding on the south shore of Lake Erie. While the main attraction is the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, all of the area to the south, east and west are also part of this amazing migratory spectacle. Ottawa NWR is contiguous with Magee so I have been here before.

Martin houses at Ottawa NWR

There are auto routes and hiking trails, and after inquiring about the insect quotient and being was told it was bad, I figured I would at least try walking some in the woods near the VC. Near the trailhead was an elderly couple, the woman in a wheelchair, the man quietly sitting on a bench, both with binoculars, waiting and "hopefully" watching for birds, the lady told me. There were  far fewer visitors than in May, and the 1-2 mile walk was surprisingly free of bugs, as long as I didn't stop too long in one place. At one point around a curve I surprised a Great Blue Heron standing in the middle of the trail; another time I heard a crackling noise, and a Red-tailed Hawk flew from a perch right above me. There were thousands of blooming wildflowers, but the best were Cardinal flowers near the beginning of the trail.

Cardinal flowers at Ottawa NWR in OH

And there was a lovely bathroom placing it alongside those at Necedah and Big Stone NWRs.

Much of the refuge is closed to road traffic most of the year to protect the wildlife so I drove to Magee Marsh. All of this area was once the Great Black Swamp, comprising 1500 square miles, which continued in a broad swath from the southwest corner of Lake Erie to Ft. Wayne, IN.

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Although much of the area to the east, south, and north was settled in the early 19th century, the dense habitat and difficulty of travel through the swamp delayed its development by several decades. A corduroy road (from modern-day Fremont to Perrysburg) was constructed in 1825, see Maumee Road Lands, and paved with gravel in 1838, but travel in the wet season could still take days or even weeks. The story of the first European settlement in 1833 in the Great Black Swamp at Lauber Hill is told in "Out of the Wilderness, History of the Central Mennonite Church," 1835-1960. O. Grieser and E. Beck, The Dean Hicks Company, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1960. The impassibility of the swamp was an obstacle during the so-called Toledo War (1835–36); unable to get through the swamp, the Michigan and Ohio militias never came to battle. Settlement of the region was also inhibited by endemic malaria. The disease was a chronic problem for residents of the region until the area was drained and former mosquito-breeding grounds were dried up.

In the 1850s the states began an organized attempt to drain the swamp for agricultural use and ease of travel. Various projects were undertaken over a 40-year period. Local resident James B. Hill, living in Bowling Green, Ohio, in the mid-19th century, made the quick drainage of the Black Swamp possible with his invention of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher.^[6] Hill's ditching machine laid drainage tiles at a record pace. The area was largely settled over the next three decades. The development of railroads and a local drainage tile industry are thought to have contributed greatly to drainage and settlement (Kaatz, 1955).

Great Egret at Magee Marsh, OH

The value of wetlands ecologically (and for the sport of duck hunting) is now the impetus to retain, manage and enhance what is left. The non-wet part of this land is now productive farms.

I spent the rest of the day moseying east on US6 along Lake Erie into Cleveland. The shoreline is much less dramatic than Lake Michigan with parks, small cabin and motel resorts, many rivers and creeks flowing from the south into Lake Erie and, closer to Cleveland, impressive, large and gracious older homes. I somehow got into insane interstate traffic in Cleveland with 8-12 lanes of traffic, all going 65+ mph. I didn't know exactly where I was going, had to pay attention and couldn't easily look at my phone or  a map. So, after 15 minutes, I just exited, continued east awhile and ended up in Chardon, OH, in a park-like suburban area with the usual stores, including a Walmart with trees along the perimeter of the parking lot. I ate a Starbucks salad I had picked up earlier - brown rice with grains and veggies and greens, had a glass of wine, read and slept well.